Covers primarily for open air water containers

ABSTRACT

A woven fabric material comprising a basic material consisting of fine open mesh synthetic monofilament threads and which is reinforced by rip-resisting spaced-apart weft bands and spacedapart warp bands, said bands being composed of closely related multifilament synthetic threads and serving to arrest ripping of the unreinforced basic material in the areas bounded by the intersecting weft and warp bands.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Reginald W. Haynes Walmgate Road, Perivale, Greeniord, Middlesex, England [21] Appl. No 790,895 [22] Filed Jan. 8, 1969 [45] Patented July 20, 1971 [54] COVERS PRIMARILY FOR OPEN AIR WATER CONTAINERS 5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

(52] 1.1.8. Cl 139/383, 139/420, 4/172. 1 2 [51] Int. Cl D03d 15/00, E04h 3/19 [50] Field of Search 139/470, 420 A, 426, 383; 4/172, 172.12, 172.14

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,580,555 1/1952 Kroeger 4/172. 14

2,619,705 12/1952 Foster 139/420 X 2,870,454 1/1959 Schippert et a1. 4/172.12 2,870,455 l/1959 Reeves 139/426 X 2,958,872 11/1960 Meyer, Jr. 4/172.12 3,354,472 1 H1967 Steinbeck 4/172. 12 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,035,857 4/1953 France 139/383 1,037,306 4/1953 France 139/383 775,843 5/1957 Great Britain 139/383 Primary Examiner--James Kee Chi Attorneys-Emory L. Groff and Emory L. Grofl", Jr.

ABSTRACT: A woven fabric material comprising a basic material consisting of fine open mesh synthetic monofilament threads and which is reinforced by rip-resisting spaced-apart weft bands and spaced-apart warp bands, said bands being composed of closely related multifilament synthetic threads and sewing to arrest ripping of the unreinforced basic material in the areas bounded by the intersecting weft and warp bands.

COVERS PRIMARILY FOR OPEN AIR WATER CONTAINERS CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS United Kingdom Application No. 2726/68 dated 18th Jan.,

, BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to protective covers primarily for open air water containers such as swimming pools, to provide protection against a person, animal or debris falling therein.

The chief object of the invention is to provide a cover having a safety factor in the event of the cover ripping.

A further object of the invention is to provide a cover which is comparatively light and easy to handle.

,SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention consists in the provision of a protective cover material comprising a fine open mesh fabric woven primarily from synthetic basic threads and having rip-stopsynt hetic threads woven in to the warp and weft to form spaced-apart warp and weft bands intersecting the define enclosed pattern areas on the basic sheet said bands constituting rip-arresting stops in the event of the basic sheet ripping.

The rip-stop threads are preferably continuous multifila ment synthetic threads. The width of the said ba'nds may vary considerably but generally a width of about one inch is convenient.

The said pattern areas'are preferably square and of a size such as to prevent a small child falling therethrough in the event of the basic material ripping.

The size of the open mesh of the said fabric is such as to allow rain or other water to drain therethrough but is sufficiently fine to prevent the passage of debris;

Generally a mesh size of the order of about 1 sq. mm. has been found satisfactory. 7

In the preferred form of the invention, the cover materialoffine open mesh fabric is woven primarily from synthetic 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED [EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, one form of the basic sheet material ll of a protective cover is woven primarily from monofilament synthetic threads as illustrated in FIG. ll. The weft threads 2 are of circular section and the warp threads are preferably of flat section, conveniently about 0.006 0.02l inches, the flat section gives a greater area of cover for the same weight and cost as a circular section thread.

Continuous multifilament rip-stop threads 4 are woven into the warp and weft to form bands 5 (herein referred to as warp bands") spaced apart one from the other and further bands 6 (herein referred to as weft bands") also spaced apart one from the other.

'In the warp bands the multifilament threads 4 alternate with r the basic-monofilament threads 3 as this combination of threads tend to keep the fabric smooth and prevent rucking.

, The 'weft bands areconstituted along the weft solely of said synthetic continuous multifilament threads 4, (i.e. no basic monofilament weft threads 2) which are: in relation to the basic threads, relatively thick and soft, so that practically no interstices exist in the warp and weft bands 5 and 6 respectively, unlike the openmesh in the basic fabric 1, thus providing a closer weave in the said bands which tend to increase their tear strength. I r

The said warp bands Sand weft bands 6 intersect as shown in FIG. 6 to define enclosed pattern areas 7 on the basic fabric l, the said bands 5 and 6 constituting rip-arresting stops in the round.

Various synthetic monofilament fibers may be used to weave the basic sheet material, such for example,

monofilament basic threads and the rip-stop threads-of which would result in tearing of monofilament fabric tend to slide one over another and bunch together and thereby providing an increased resistance to tearing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. I. is a diagrammatic plan view of a portion of woven fabric according to one embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a' fragmentary plan view of area A of FIG. I showing details of the basic fabric;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of area B of FIG. 1 showing details of a warp band; i

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of area C of FIG. 1 showing details of a weft band; I i

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of area D of FIG. I showing details of the intersection of a warp and weft band and FIG: 6 is a diagrammatic plan of one form of swimming pool cover formed from the fabric according to this invention and illustrating a general pattern of the intersecting warp and weft bands.

polypropylene, polythene. 'All' these fibers have a basic resistance to rottingl However, they are all subjected to degradationin some degree by ultraviolet rays over a period of time. Hence the life of covers for outdoor containers made of such fibers depends on the geographical location in which they are used. Therefore although fabric covers made of such monofilament fibers may appear intact after a number of years, they could in fact be much weaker due to weathering. Other fibers'such as nylon, terylene' and acrylic however have a greater resistance to ultraviolet light.

Since the'fabrics' for the covers of the invention only use a relatively small amount of multifilament fibers and such fiber materials, with high resistance to ultraviolet light, can be used in the said fabrics without unduly increasing the cost of the fabrics. Should theexclusively monofilament fiberparts of the covers of the invention deteriorate due to weathering and split when a child or animal wandered on to the cover themultifila ment fiber parts of the cover with their greater rip strength and resistance to weathering would serve to prevent a child or animal from falling through the cover.

Although the cover, according to this invention is primarily for open air water containers, it can also be employed for other containers and excavations.

l. A woven protective cover fabric comprising a fine open mesh base fabric' provided with warp and weft threads woven primarily from monofilament synthetic threads and having continuous multifilament synthetic threads woven into the warp and weft to form spaced-apart warp bands and weft bands intersecting to define enclosed pattern areas on the base fabric, said bands constituting rip-arresting stops in the event of the ripping of the base fabric. I

2. A woven protective cover fabric as claimed in claim l, in which the warp in the warp bands consists of alternate monofilament synthetic threads and continuous multifilament synthetic threads.

3. A woven protective cover fabric as claimed in claim 1, wherein the weft bands are constituted solely of synthetic continuous multifilament threads.

4. A woven protective cover fabric as claimed in claim I,

wherein the weft threads of the base fabric are of circular cross section and the warp threads of said base fabric are flat. 

1. A woven protective cover fabric comprising a fine open mesh base Fabric provided with warp and weft threads woven primarily from monofilament synthetic threads and having continuous multifilament synthetic threads woven into the warp and weft to form spaced-apart warp bands and weft bands intersecting to define enclosed pattern areas on the base fabric, said bands constituting rip-arresting stops in the event of the ripping of the base fabric.
 2. A woven protective cover fabric as claimed in claim 1, in which the warp in the warp bands consists of alternate monofilament synthetic threads and continuous multifilament synthetic threads.
 3. A woven protective cover fabric as claimed in claim 1, wherein the weft bands are constituted solely of synthetic continuous multifilament threads.
 4. A woven protective cover fabric as claimed in claim 1, wherein the weft threads of the base fabric are of circular cross section and the warp threads of said base fabric are flat.
 5. A cover for a swimming pool or other water container made from fabric as claimed in claim 1, including longitudinal and transverse webbings of webbings attached to the fabric, said bands provided at their ends with means for attachment to fixing devices associated with said pool or container. 